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Show r V Facts From Jerusalem 4 tH V Easter, the Gjeat Festival of y tlie Orient, Is Interest- The name of Jerusalem Is repeated on Easter day by millions and millions mil-lions of followers of the Christian religion reli-gion as well as the Jewish. If one stops to think how many times the word Jerusalem has been repeated during dur-ing the 2,000 years that have passed since the appearance of the Nazarene on the platform of the world history, one must admit that there is no city in the world that can rival with Jerusalem Jeru-salem iu fame. The name of Jerusalem Jeru-salem has become a familiar and sweet name to many a nation and many an Individual. IN RECENT reports it was mentioned men-tioned that Jerusalem has been covered cov-ered by a white carpet of snow 29. inches deep, and that due to the excessive ex-cessive snow load one of the old olive trees in Gethsetnane gave way and fell. The fall of this tree has again fulfilled another prophecy stating that Jerusalem will he delivered from the hands of the Turk when one of these trees should fall. The Easter season Is by far the busiest and m03t Interesting one of Jerusalem. The setting in of spring makes it possible as well as pleasant for tourists and visitors from all parts of the globe to gather in the Holy city and see with their eyes the place whose name is world-famous and on which scenes occurred that tended to bring about decisive turning points in the history of the human race. ONE of these places Is the Garden of Gethsetnane. As the Hebrew name Indicates, Gethsemane was an olive garden, with an "oil press" on Its grounds. The present garden Is situated on the western slopes of the Mount of Olives, a little distance up from the Kidron valley. Although I very much reduced In size, It still con-; con-; tains some of the old olive trees that 1 stood there when the Galilean spent , the night with his eleven followers be-t be-t foro he was betrayed. The place has I been turned Into a beautiful flower ! garden, and from here cards are sent to all parts of the world with flowers from Gethemane glued on them. On Green Thursday before Easter the vast number of visitors walk down the slopes of Mt. MIra, on which the temple stands, cross the Kidron valley near Sittl Miram, the tomb of St. Mary, and enter the gar-deu gar-deu after ascending a distance up the Mount of Olives. For lack of space to accommodate the visitors, they are allowed to remain a short time on the place, during which they can sing a hymn or read a passage from the New Testament and then make room for newcomers. Hymns characteristic of all Christian nations are sung in almost al-most every civilized tongue In the quietude of the garden. BUT the most attended festiva. is the celebration of the Holy Lignt. The celebration is world famous and yearly attracts visitors from all parts of the world. At one o'clock in the afternoon of the Saturday before Easter, the light is given out from the front chamber of the tomb by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch and is passed on by the anxiously waiting youth of Jerusalem. Every individual who carries a candle lights it from the light next to him and in a marvelous-ly marvelous-ly short time the light is passed on through the different parts of the interior in-terior of the church, out into the yard, up to the visitors on the flat roofs of the church, through the city and out into the churches of the whole coun- BEFORE the war the Turkish military mili-tary force used to police the occasion oc-casion to prevent any disorder, but mostly to show that Islam is dominating dominat-ing even on the very sacred grounds of Christianity. But since the entrance en-trance of the victorious General Al-lenby. Al-lenby. the policing was done by Tommies Tom-mies or Australians, who were participators par-ticipators in the celebration and whose presence was deemed essential only for preventing molestation by pickpockets. pick-pockets. Gordon, an English nreheologist, discovered dis-covered a hid outside the Damascus gate which has the shape of a skull with holes arranged so as to form two eyes, a nose and a mouth. At the foot of the hill is a garden, and on one slrte of the garden Is a tomb hewn Into the rock. The tomb corresponds to the description of the tomb mentioned men-tioned in the New Testament. THE Easter Sunday Is celebrated at daybreak in the Holy Sepulcher with a very impressive service. Tet the main celebration Is in the streets of the city and the homes of the people. peo-ple. The children enjoy the game of trying to see how many eggs they can break by the ones they have, holding th'sm in a vertical position. The broken bro-ken egg becomes the property of the winner. Easter is the great festival of the Orient. . On this occasion people peo-ple have parties to which they invite their friends. Greetings and good wishes are exchanged both orally and in writing. The best Syrian candy and sweets, as well as the best dishes, are found on the Easter meal table in Syrian homes. The Jaffa gate, which was made famous fa-mous by the entry of General Allenby to Jerusalem, is the most important gate of the city. Alongside of the gate Is the entrance, which was made by tearing down a piece of the ancient an-cient wall to form a suitable entrance for Wilhelm Hohenzollern in 1808. In front of the Jaffa gate, also called Bal el Kalil, or the Gate of the Friend, three principal streets meet, namely, the Jaffa street, David street and the road to Bethlehem. T3E place in front of Bal el Kalil is the busiest section of the whole city. .An observer of the life during Easter time sees a mixed human stream passing in and out through the "Gate of the Friend." This continuous con-tinuous stream is made up of representatives repre-sentatives of all nationalities, tongues and creeds. Bal el Kalil is the center of traffic of the city. Here the vehicles stand in line ready to convey the natives, j as well as the tourists, through the city and through the country. Camel caravans in their characteristic slow pace share the payement with the modern motor-driven cars. A scene at the Jaffa gate during the Blaster season sea-son has no equal in any cosmopolitan city in any part of the world, and impresses im-presses upon the observer the importance impor-tance of the city and the fame which It owes to the occurrences of the Easter season 2.000 years ago. CALVARY was a hill on which criminals wi re crucified. The crucifixion was ail old Eastern habit. ' The historical hill of Calvary, on which the three crosses of that Good Friday stood, has disappeared. On Its site the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has been built by Helena, the wife of Emperor Constantlne of the Byzantine Byzan-tine empire, in the Fourth century after the Christian era. On this place the celebration of the foot washm,: and the Holy Light takes place. The foot washing is celebrated on Greek Thursday In the court of the church by the followers of the Greek Orthodox faith, reprodueing'the fool washing that took place In the room of Zion 2.000 years ago. |